Felicia Frazar The Seguin Gazette

Seguin ISD is putting safety and security as a top priority, along with a new elementary campus, upgrades to a middle school and the addition of a softball and baseball facility in a potential $135 million bond proposal.

The district’s board heard a presentation Tuesday during a workshop about plans to accommodate growth and security concerns, Seguin ISD Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez said.

“We are looking at going to our board of trustees, prior to Aug. 14, to recommend that they approve a bond package for a total of $135 million to address some of our existing facility needs as well as accommodating future growth that is coming,” he said. “A priority within this bond referendum would be safety and security.”

The bond proposal package has two propositions. The first focuses $128 million on a new elementary, an agricultural science facility, additions and renovations at Jim Barnes, security, transportation and more. The second, if passed, would direct $7.5 million toward the creation of a baseball/softball complex at Seguin High School.

If both bonds pass, the district estimates a 2 cents per $100 valuation rate increase.

“It is a conservative estimate,” Gutierrez said. “With the last bond, we anticipated a 5 cent increase but we only realized a 2.5 cent increase. That is mostly attributed to growth. We are likely to continue to see that exponential growth in our school district boundaries. We are being ultra conservative and we will be communicating a 2 cent tax increase.”

District staff compiled the proposed package with help from the facilities planning committee. The current committee used the long-range plan drafted by the facilities planning committee five years ago to identify the district’s priority needs, Gutierrez said.

“This facilities committee was really able to take that long-range facilities plan, look at what we are currently addressing and they were able to prioritize the most pressing needs,” he said. “What you see in this proposal is the work of that committee and what they deemed as the current priorities. Of course, there are many more but there is a limit for what we can address now in this referendum.”

Proposition 1

Safety and Security

School districts across the country are on high alert following the recent mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, and Seguin ISD is no different.

The first proposition has $10 million carved out for capital improvements in campus security. While Seguin ISD has already implemented safety policies and procedures, as well as updated security measures throughout the past five years, Gutierrez said the district can do more.

“I feel like we are ahead of most with our safety and security measures,” he said. “However, I think we all can agree there is so much more that can be done to enhance what we are already doing. Of course, that is going to be a challenge for school districts because of funding.”

The district recently created a Safety Task Force comprised of community members and district employees to look at Seguin ISD’s safety plans and give ideas on what they would like to see change or added and that can have a price tag, Gutierrez said.

“I can’t specifically say what exactly would be part of that safety and security item, because the safety and security task force is still outlining some of their recommendations,” he said. “It could be in the form of additional cameras, additional keyless entry points or fencing adjustments, new fencing. We do know that many of the recommendations are going to come at a cost. At a time when there is a renewed focus on school safety and security, the facilities committee felt it appropriate to ensure that was a component of this bond package.”

New McQueeney Campus

The long-range facilities plan marked McQueeney Elementary as a campus slated to find a new home. The campus is more than 100 years old and is land locked, leaving no room for growth. The proposal identifies $54 million to build a new campus on land the district is currently working to acquire, Gutierrez said.

“It was part of a conversation in 2019 when we went out for Bond 2019. Part of that referendum included land for McQueeney, which we’ve encountered a lot of challenges in trying to secure that land,” he said. “We are currently undergoing some negotiations on a property and we’re hopeful we’ll be announcing very soon that we have secured that land in a really good location where a lot of the growth in the district is happening.”

Having a new campus for the McQueeney area will help when other campuses go offline in the future for updates or replacement, Gutierrez said.

“But, first and foremost, there is a need to replace that building,” he said. “It is aging, it is not optimal for learning. We’re at the end of that facility’s life and that is the biggest priority item in this package.”

Agricultural Science Center

In a community that is rich in agriculture, the committee felt it was time to expand the district’s abilities to engage more students with the addition of an agricultural science center, or an ag barn, built off campus for about $9 million.

“Seguin ISD has not had the opportunity to have an ag facility of our own,” Gutierrez said. “Unfortunately, for many years we have lost students to neighboring school districts that have a facility. We have not been able to be as competitive as we could be and we’ve not been able to recruit additional students, because many students do not have the space to house their own animals and districts that have those facilities are able to accommodate those students.”

The facility will afford students the opportunity to raise an animal when they don’t necessarily have a place to keep it, as well as store feed. The center will also include a practice arena, Gutierrez said.

“It would have a small space for them to be able to practice where they currently do not,” he said. “A lot of our students have to have their animals at a family’s property or a friend’s. We’ve been very appreciative of parents who are able to accommodate for their children but also for other students. We feel strongly that it has been a need in Seguin ISD for a long time and it would be a facility that would last for many years to come and be able to support our ag program and the ag program can become another point of pride for Seguin ISD.”

The funding does not include acquisition of land, which the district is currently in the works of negotiating, Gutierrez said.

Barnes Middle School Renovations

With the Briesemeister Middle School project nearing completion, the district is looking at ways to upgrade and update Jim Barnes Middle School. The proposition includes $26.8 million to expand the campus to accommodate 1,000 students with more classroom space, more core space and update traffic flow for safety, Gutierrez said.

With the inclusion of sixth graders at the campus that was originally built for seventh and eighth, it now sits at capacity and is experiencing more growth, Gutierrez said.

“Now that we will have AJ Briesemeister in a new facility, here in the very near future, and Briesemeister is able to accommodate 1,000 students, we feel we need to get Barnes up to par to accommodate additional students, but to also ensure that it is safe, there is enough space in the core areas and that we can accommodate the programs related to fine arts and CTE,” he said.

With Barnes and Koennecke Elementary in close proximity to a new subdivision and more on the way, the campuses saw an increase in traffic, and the funds earmarked for Barnes can help with renovations, Gutierrez said.

“It has been a challenging and chaotic situation since I’ve been here and many of the residents encounter a lot of challenges with that traffic flow,” he said. “We’ve already seen a positive impact on the traffic flow at AJ Briesemeister at drop off and pick up. It would be a very similar design to that that would improve that efficiency and flow of that car line.”

Seguin ISD talks $135M bond package

Proposal 1 also includes updates to the transportation facility and new buses, roof replacement on several campuses, technology infrastructure across the district, plumbing and HVAC, land for future use and furniture.

Proposition 2

Baseball and Softball Complex

The second proposition stands alone for the construction of a softball and baseball complex on the Seguin High School campus. Currently, the campus has a softball field but lacks a baseball field. The Matadors baseball team currently plays at Smoky Joe Williams Field. If passed, the $7.5 million proposition would create a combined softball and baseball facility.

“Not having our own facility certainly presents a lot of challenges to our baseball players,” Gutierrez said. “Our softball facility certainly presents a lot of challenges and one of the biggest ones is safety and the need to have a field that is going to support our baseball and softball teams.”

The district isn’t looking for anything extreme, Gutierrez said, just a place for both teams to play their games safely on the high school campus.

“We believe that our programs — both softball and baseball — will improve even more should they have a facility that is going to be up to par,” Gutierrez said. “It is going to be a bare-bones facility, it wouldn’t have all of the bells and whistles, wouldn’t be the Cadillac model. It would be something that meets the needs of our athletes and completely finish the high school.”

There were discussions previously about the district creating the facilities out of fund balance but Gutierrez said those funds could go toward other aspects of the complex.

“There are still some components of that baseball and softball complex that are not part of this proposition, because baseball/softball is a stand-alone proposition,” he said. “That would be a further discussion between the administration and board of trustees.”

The board took no action on the proposals Tuesday night, but members expected to host another discussion about the bond propositions soon and potentially take action.

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